Team Owners

Hey bartender, have you seen Drew Carey?" "Sure," she says, pointing to a thicket of blue and green. Soccer lovers -- Seattle Sounders lovers to be precise -- crammed inside a beer-drenched bar. His famous outline emerges, wide and square-jawed.

Only the Clippers, it seems, could be involved in a fight in which a fair outcome is unattainable, and a rooting interest is impossible. It's Elgin Baylor suing Donald Sterling, a fallen general manager charging the falling owner of being racist and cheap, allegations that apparently occurred to Baylor only after working there for more than two decades. One cannot pick sides, only emotions. Sadness comes to mind. How do you back an owner who is now fighting two lawsuits accusing him of racism?

Three more years of labor peace, and the NFL will have gone a quarter-century without a work stoppage. But don't buy that anniversary cake just yet. A lockout could be looming. DeMaurice Smith, newly appointed executive director of the NFL Players Assn., said as much Monday in a visit to Indianapolis Colts training camp. He told reporters he expects team owners to lock out the players when the current collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2010 season. Tough talk?

One of the more provocative allegations in the lawsuit filed by former Clippers executive and NBA Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor against the Clippers, the NBA and owner Donald Sterling and team president Andy Roeser dealt with a comment allegedly made by Sterling about his former player Danny Manning.

The last line of questioning may have been the toughest for Elgin Baylor during his news conference Thursday morning at his attorney's office in Beverly Hills. What have you been doing since October, Elgin? Have you been watching Clippers games? Do you cheer for the team? Is it tough to cheer for the team? Baylor, 74, the NBA Hall of Famer and former Clippers executive, didn't answer and appeared more emotional than at any time during the session.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Moments after Jimmie Johnson crossed the finish line at Homestead-Miami Speedway last November to win his second consecutive NASCAR title, his crew erupted in celebration along pit road. But Johnson's car owner, Rick Hendrick, immediately went searching for another driver -- Jeff Gordon. Gordon, who also races for Hendrick, had just lost his chance for a fifth championship following a grueling 36-race battle with his teammate.

The best owner in the history of professional sports is strolling through his sprawling hilltop home when he comes upon an ornate wooden door riddled with three gaping holes. It is the door to his private elevator. It is also, perhaps, the portal to a philosophy. "Let me tell you a story about those holes," Jerry Buss says. On a recent Saturday, while Buss was inside the elevator, it jolted to a stop between the first and second floors.

LONDON -- A mere 15 months ago, NHL owners George Gillett (Montreal Canadiens) and Tom Hicks (Dallas Stars, plus Texas Rangers) bought the Liverpool soccer club for a widely reported $435 million and won hosannas for their greet-the-people friendliness. They shook fans' hands at Liverpool's Anfield stadium and proclaimed its stunning din "like nothing I've ever heard or felt," in Gillett's words. Since then the new owners have left skid marks in four directions. Georgey got peeved at Tommy.

ATLANTA -- For the NFL, today could be labor day. At their annual May meeting today, team owners are likely to vote on whether to continue with their labor agreement with the players' union or exercise the league's early-termination clause. Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Assn., says he thinks the league will opt out. If no new labor agreement is reached, that could eventually result in a player work stoppage, something the league hasn't encountered since the 1987 season.

ATLANTA -- NFL owners voted unanimously Tuesday to shorten their collective bargaining agreement with the players' union. That doesn't mean a work stoppage is in the offing -- that would come three seasons from now in the absence of a new deal. But what it does mean is that the 2010 season will be played without a salary cap if the sides cannot reach an agreement before then.